I Think I Need You
by UndercoverQuill
Summary: The Doctor needs Clara; and she's going to travel with him forever. A series of short stories of their travels together. Twelve and Clara. Chapter 2 is up (enter the Paternoster Gang!) and I think it's a lot better than Chapter 1, sorry that the writing was pretty bad in the first chapter :O
1. Jasmin

With one fluid movement he threw on the handbrake and the TARDIS came to a resolute stop upon an unknown ground. The Doctor stepped back from the console and eyed his companion.

"Ready?" he asked her, taking note of the excitement, but slight hesitation on her face.

"Where are we?" she asked in response.

"Jasmin."

"Jasmin?"

"Yes, Clara, Jasmin. It's named after the Supreme Ruler of the planet. She's wanted to meet me for some time."

There was a mischievous twinkle in Clara's eye.

"Well, it's not like you to keep a woman waiting," she joked with a tone of pleasant sarcasm. The Doctor didn't smile, he didn't smile often these days, but Clara recognised something more than that. Annoyance maybe… Fear? She wasn't sure.

"So who is she? Jasmin, I mean?" Clara asked to break the unwelcome silence. She wasn't comforted by the look in the Doctor's eyes, so if he could tell her that Jasmin was some sort of wonderful angel, that's be great.

"I suppose humans would call her a witch, but that's not right. She's a shape-shifter of sorts; many shapes, many forms. She's lived for centuries but nobody knows what her true form is-" The Doctor trailed off, he did that a lot these days, almost like he'd forgotten what he was going to say. "She wants something from me, but I plan to offer her an alternative."

Clara sighed. _A witch_ she thought, _great!_

Clara stepped through the doors first, pulling her jacket tightly around her as if it would somehow shield her from danger. The floor she stood upon was hard and her heels clicked against it as she stepped from the TARDIS. She took a slow step forward and heard the TARDIS door snap shut behind her, that always unnerved her a little, like the doors of her one safe-haven being locked forever.

It was cold and snow was falling in cruel, sharp flakes but not leaving any trace on the ground. It was dark but there were two full moons floating in the sky illuminating a flat and empty landscape. It was a bleak place; it looked like everything had died. No glistening golden pools, no odd space trees, no peculiar aliens walking about the place as if it were normal. Just nothing.

Clara noticed the Doctor was catching the falling shards of ice in his palms. She looked at him puzzled; would she ever understand his mood patterns? One minute a grumpy old man, the next a silly child. She sighed again.

"She's sending us a message," the Doctor said, still peering at his palms. "Look."

Clara shuffled over, trying to keep warm as she moved. She gazed down into the Doctors hands and what she saw next made a small gasp escape from her lips. The tiny shards of ice were cutting through the Doctors skin, causing small pools of blood to form and freeze on the surface of his skin.

"That's horrible," she exclaimed.

"We should leave," said the Doctor quietly. "She knows we're here and she's coming for us. I have a feeling-" he trailed off again. "Let's go."

This was an unusual turn up; the Doctor running away from an adventure. She thought he was going to offer this woman an alternative- though an alternative to what Clara didn't know. If the Doctor was leaving, then it wasn't worth the risk them being there.

They took two steps back to the TARDIS and the Doctor pulled out the key. _Why isn't it going in the lock? _Clara thought, waiting impatiently to get inside.

"She's frozen," came the Doctor's worried voice, as if he was responding to her thoughts. The message ticked away in Clara's mind before she realised what had been said.

"What?" she said.

"Don't you listen? I said she's frozen," replied the Doctor, annoyed. "Y'know, you never listen."

"Yes, I do!"

"No, you don't!"

"I don't think now is a good time to be arguing about this," Clara hissed tipping her head to one side.

The Doctor turned to glance in the direction she'd indicated. They weren't alone.

"Doctor," a woman's voice said with sultry enthusiasm. Clara raised her eyebrows.

The woman came into full view. She was tall and slender, her face was thin but beautiful with no lines or shadows. Her pale, bare feet treaded weightlessly across the ground and she appeared to glide towards them. Her long black hair seemed to melt into the black, velvet gown she wore and her eyes were deceivingly warm.

"I've waited almost a millennia for you, Doctor, and you've finally come for me," she soothed.

She held out her hand to him which he shook in one small flick of the wrist before taking a step to the side.

"Have you frozen my TARDIS?" he asked.

"Couldn't have you running away now, could we? Not until you've given me what I want."

"And what would that be?" he replied in a serious tone.

At that point the woman suddenly seemed to acknowledge Clara, like she hadn't been standing there bright as day for all this time.

"Who is the female?" the woman asked.

"I'm Clara," Clara said in a confident, almost offended tone of voice.

The woman let out a throaty laugh.

"Jasmin," she purred, extending her arm. "Charmed, I'm sure."

Clara didn't know what happened first. It might have been the electricity burning up her hand, then arm and coursing through her body. It might have been the Doctor yelling her name. It might have been her knees buckling and crashing into the ground below. It might have been the devilish cackle that escaped Jasmin's thin lips. She didn't know, everything went black too soon.

The Doctor was furious. How could he have let this happen?

He'd been standing in front of the TARDIS, key still in hand when Jasmin turned her attention to Clara. Before he could stop her she grasped his companion's hand and was seemingly scolding her through her skin. Clara had screamed out briefly before crumbling to the floor. He hadn't managed to get to Clara's side two steps away before Jasmin transformed and seized him. The arms of a mighty, mechanical beast held him tightly and dragged him away through the bitter darkness. He called out to Clara but she didn't move, she didn't hear. The Doctor hoped that the TARDIS would somehow protect her.

Now he was chained up, and Jasmin was back in her humanoid form. She'd taken him to her palace and strapped him to a chair in her private laboratory. It quickly became apparent to him what she wanted. The glass bottles and beakers on the table beside him, the long tubes and the needles were a clear sign of what was to come. The Doctor knew he couldn't let this happen, but he couldn't move.

"You know what I want from you," Jasmin said, massaging the Doctor's shoulders from behind. He fidgeted in the chair but was too tied down to escape her touch.

"Where are your people?" the Doctor said, stalling.

"That's no matter," she purred. "Unimportant." She walked around to face him, she stood towering over him. He avoided her gaze.

"I'd be worried if I didn't know where my citizens were," he scoffed. "Or have they left you?"

"They're fine!" she snapped, "Now," her voice returned to normal, "Let's get on with it."

She crouched down and slid her slender fingers beneath his coat and slipped it from his shoulders.

"What are you doing?" he uttered, his voice breaking only slightly.

His coat wouldn't fall beneath the chains across his chest and arms; for that he was thankful.

Jasmin seemed thoroughly put out by this and let out a tempered '_hmph_'. She took two paces backwards and raised her arm; long fingers outstretched like they were grasping at something in the distance. The Doctor squeezed his eyes shut tightly as a ferocious gust of wind washed over him, burning his skin. He couldn't breathe, the forced pounding on his chest was too strong. He was swirling, faster and faster. And then it stopped. When it was all over he peered through one eye to see his coat firmly grasped in Jasmin's outstretched hand, completely intact. She released the coat and let it slip from her fingers into a pool on the black, tiled floor.

She approached him once more, muttered a brief, 'That's better,' and cast a blade out of thin air which she twirled delicately between her fingers. It was easily eight inches long and shone menacingly in the candlelight. She strode forwards and knelt at the Doctor's feet. He was powerless to stop her.

"Now it's time," Jasmin hissed. She lifted the knife. The Doctor said a silent apology to Clara.

_Clara. _

Her head hurt, then her shoulders. As more body part awoke she felt them ache. She tried to push herself up into a sitting position but her elbows seemed to refuse, gravity was pulling her down to the ground.

"Doctor," she croaked, but all that came back was silence. "Doctor?"

She twisted her head around, her stiff neck all but creaked as she did.

"Help me," she muttered up to the big, blue box. "Help me!" The TARDIS remain still and frozen, it felt like it wasn't there at all. It provided her with absolutely no comfort.

After several deep and painful breaths Clara found her feet. She felt a surge of pain with every footstep as she ambled almost blindly through the darkness. _This can't be real_, she thought to herself and wished she was back in her English classroom where the children would throw paper aeroplanes at her. _Anything is better than this._ And that's when the tears came, that's where her legs stopped and she fell to the floor in silent tears. Nobody was coming, she hadn't seen a soul. She was going to die.

It was if by a miracle she spotted a tiny light flickering in the distance. It was as if some tiny ray of hope inside of her was searching the skies, because she knew she hadn't been looking. She'd just seen it.

"Doctor," she whispered to herself. Gathering the little energy she had left she struggled to her feet and stepped slowly towards the light. With every aching step Clara was convinced the light was getting no closer. It didn't seem to be any bigger, like it was torturing her. She wanted to scream at it but the energy just wasn't there.

After what felt like an eternity she came upon a path, it was only just visible at her feet. She followed it almost dragging her feet through the dirt. She arrived at a vast shadow of a palace which was only lit by a single glowing window upstairs. She pushed through the unlocked door and went inside.

She was glad to be indoors, it was warm and quite welcoming. Still aching and feeling unable to run, she crept to the staircase and slowly began to climb.

"Doctor," she called out. Her voice echoed around her but no reply came. She continued to climb.

When she reached the first landing she called out again but there was no sight or sound from anyone. When she reached the fourth landing her legs were shaking and threatening to give in once more, but when there was a faint glow coming from above she willed herself to keep going.

The light poured from the ajar door on the fifth landing and she could hear Jasmin's lustful voice.

"You know what I want from you, Doctor, are you going to give it to me, or do I have to be forceful?"

An involuntary gasp escape Clara, she had to clasp her hand to her mouth to silence it. She prayed nobody heard her.

"I told you," came a Scottish voice, "I'm not giving you anything until you get Clara back."

"Oh really, I was hoping we could do this without her. Much more private. Much more… Intimate," Jasmin breathed.

There was a tearing sound, like fabric being ripped apart. Clara's heart raced.

"No, don't!" the Doctor yelled. Clara didn't like the tone of fear in her voice. She had to stop this, she had to save him. Her Doctor. From whatever that evil witch was doing to him.

Suddenly filled with adrenaline she burst through the door, it swung back and crashed into the wall. Clara leapt over to where Jasmin stood with the Doctor's torn shirt in one hand and a knife in the other. Without hesitation she pounced like a lion and the two women came crashing down. Clara heard the Doctor breathe a sigh of relief. Then came the rattle of the chains as he tried to free his arms.

Clara was on top of Jasmin with her hands at her throat. She wanted to scream that nobody touches the Doctor, nobody hurts the Doctor! But she couldn't quite find any words. She was breathing hard and the anger had made tears fall from her eyes.

Jasmin threw Clara aside like a doll, but Clara launched herself back at Jasmin who was prowling back over to the Doctor. They both slammed into the cold floor several feet apart. In that instant there was a deafening crack and Jasmin transformed once more into a huge black crow, the size of a man and took flight around the laboratory. Clara let out a scream.

She scrambled over to the Doctor and to her horror he was as white as a ghost, his head flopping to one side.

"What have you done?!" Clara yelled. The giant bird screeched angrily.

There was a tube fixed into the back of the Doctor's neck feeding his deep red blood into glass bottles on the adjoining table. Clara gasped. She tried tugging at the tube in the Doctor's neck but it wouldn't budge, not even a wiggle.

Jasmin swooped low and clawed at Clara with every passing. She has cuts across her face that were stinging but her panic for the Doctor seemed to burn louder than any physical pain.

The Doctor wasn't moving and Clara was running out of time.

"You want his blood? What for?" she yelled. The giant bird landed with a thud before transforming back into Jasmin.

"With that magical elixir I'll be immortal. I can leave this desolate rock and rule the universe!"

"Then why don't you just leave?" Clara cried.

"My ship is damaged," Jasmin confessed. "When it crashed on this planet it leaked copious amounts of radiation. Everything and everyone died. Except me, safe in my quarantine pod. "

"You wiped out a whole planet?"

"I survived and that's what matters. The radiation in the atmosphere wore away but the engine will still produce much of it once it's turned on and I can't operate it from the quarantine pod. Centuries I've waited for the Doctor and now, finally, I can fly away. His blood is powerful enough to protect me from the radiation in a self-replicating healing cycle, so long as I keep the dosage topped-up."

"But it doesn't have to be this way, the Doctor can get you off this planet; you don't have to kill him!"

"My ship is one of the most powerful in the universe, I'm not going to leave it here. I won't fly away in your Doctor's magical box with no ship and no hope." Jasmin paused and glanced at the Doctor drooping in his seat. Clara saw a small but wicked smile flitter on her lips. "I'm afraid in order to get enough Time Lord blood to make the journey, I'll have to… Bleed him dry." Jasmin let out a cruel, insane laugh that almost shook the room.

"No!" Clara screamed. She knelt down beside the Doctor and took his frozen face in her hands. "Wake up. You wake up now and tell me what to do!" she cried helplessly. "You look cold," she told an unhearing Doctor and reached for his coat. She wrapped it around his bare torso and clung to his arms. "Please," she whispered.

The room fell silent.

Somewhere far away Clara's prayers were answered. There was a familiar sound filling the room, a sound that brings hope wherever it goes… To everyone.

Jasmin stood transfixed at the blue box materialising inside her laboratory. While she was distracted Clara returned the key to the Doctor's pocket and pulled out the Sonic. She zapped the tube in his neck and it broke away with a quick _snap! _She then freed him from his chains so that they rested loosely around his body.And just for good measure, she pushed the glass bottles from the table and watched them shatter across the floor.

"NO!" screeched Jasmin. "What have you done, fool?"

"You want his blood, drink it off the floor," said Clara.

That was a mistake. Jasmin was striding away from the blue box toward Clara with her arm outstretched. Clara held out the Sonic in a threatening gesture but knew it was a pointless act. Jasmin seemed to know too; she cackled.

A ball of red light was growing in her hand, getting bigger and brighter until it eventually burned gold. Jasmin was still advancing on Clara who was almost pressed up against the far wall.

With a flick of her wrist the ball flew from Jasmin's hand and shot at Clara, who tried to jump out of the way but still collapsed to the floor. Jasmin screamed in dark delight.

The Doctor had been stirring in his chair, his biology bringing him back to life, that powerful Time Lord blood. He'd been kept alive, but only just, and now he was healing.

"Clara!" he yelled pushing aside the lose chains and rising to his feet. "What have you done?" he turned on Jasmin who had her arm outstretched once more. "Your magic won't work on me," the Doctor mumbled. Jasmin tried in vain anyway, shooting sparks that hit the Doctor but seemed not to affect him.

"No!" Jasmin hissed, lunging herself at the Doctor. He seized her by her wrists and threw her backwards, it wasn't a strong shove but she stumbled and crashed into the wall, her bones seemed to crack against it. She screamed deeply, a frenzied look in her red eyes, as she tried to scramble to her feet but the pain was weighing her down.

The Doctor hurried over to where Clara lay squirming and moaning in agony, her blood was now spilled across the floor too. He pulled her up into his arms and carried her across the room, and laid her safely in the TARDIS control room. He walked back out into the laboratory.

There was one bottle of blood left on the table that Clara hadn't managed to smash. The Doctor picked it up and walked over to Jasmin, still screaming on the floor.

"You'll be alright," he told her, speaking in a deep voice. "But you'll stay here, alone, forever."

Jasmin didn't speak again, she didn't scream, she just watched him go back into his blue box which vanished from the room a few seconds later.

The Doctor took Clara back to his room and laid her on his bed. She'd stopped moaning now and was in a deep sleep, but the Doctor knew she's be just fine. He perched on the mattress beside her and pulled her head into his lap.

"You were brave today," he told her, but it fell on unhearing ears. "Thank you."

He took one last look at the gash in her side; the spell had burned right through her clothes and cast a deep burn into her ribs that was bleeding and raw.

He reached for the glass bottle on the nightstand and poured a single droplet of his blood into the cut and immediately the magic started working. The burn healed and the skin that replaced it was perfect and new. The cuts on her face vanished and the colour came back to her cheeks. Clara's eyes sparked open.

"What happened?" she asked in a whisper. "Am I in your room?"

"The TARDIS appears to have lost yours again. She's getting as forgetful as me."

Clara smiled up at the Doctor. "Promise you won't ever leave me," she said.

The Doctor smiled, a genuine smile which was rare for this face.

"Are you going to leave me?" he asked.

"Never," said Clara.

"Good. I think- I think I need you."


	2. I'm Afraid My Dear Is Sick

"Fank God you're 'ere!"

Jenny seized Clara's wrist and all but pulled her out of the TARDIS that had materialised in its usual spot in Madame Vastra's drawing room.

"What's happened? What's wrong?" Clara asked, now being marched from the room. The Doctor, who wasn't best pleased about being called upon during his dinner with Queen Elizabeth II, stepped from the blue box and followed them upstairs.

"It's Vastra," said Jenny, "I'm afraid my dear is sick."

"Well, good thing you called me then isn't it?" the Doctor said in a far-from-pleasant tone.

"Doctor," Clara hissed, seeing Jenny on the verge of tears.

"I was having a Royal dinner, you can't just call me away."

"A dinner which I wasn't invited to!" said Clara.

"I'm not going to argue with the Queen," the Doctor responded.

"Why not, you argue with everybody else."

"Please!" said Jenny. They'd arrived on the first-floor landing. It was quite dark, only dimly lit by candles, but it was the way Jenny turned her face away that made Clara think the Victorian woman had given in to the threatening tears. "Strax! What were you doing in there?" Jenny said, her protective tendencies rolling sharply off her tongue.

Strax had appeared from Vastra's chambers holding a very large porcelain jug. "Just changing the water, boy, it really was no trouble."

"I told you not to go in there. Vastra needs to rest!" With that Strax shuffled off downstairs, mumbling about how the ridiculous reptile hadn't move from her bed in days.

Jenny lifted a candle from the table and peered around the door into the chamber. She gestured silently for the others to follow. The Doctor and Clara crept through into the room where Vastra lay motionless.

Clara took a sharp intake of breath at the sight of the still green figure under the dark bedclothes.

"Doctor, is she- Is she alive?" Clara whispered hoping that Jenny, who had perched herself on the mattress, couldn't hear.

The Doctor strode forward and examined the great lizard woman. He fumbled in his inside pocket and pulled out the Sonic, he pointed it at Vastra. It buzzed momentarily but gave no indication that there was anything wrong with her.

"She 'asn't moved for near a week, Doctor," said Jenny.

"I don't know what it is, it's like she's just-"

"Just what?" Jenny demanded.

"-sleeping."

Jenny sighed. She stroked her wife's scaly head lovingly. Clara couldn't help but notice how Jenny seemed almost unable to function without her lover. It was heart-breaking.

"This 'as never 'appened before-" said Jenny, her voice breaking up as she spoke.

Clara stepped forward to hold Jenny as it appeared the Doctor wasn't about to do or say anything that might offer a shred of comfort.

"It'll be alright," Clara soothed, rubbing Jenny's arms gently. "We'll think of something," she turned to face the Doctor, "Won't we, Doctor?"

The Doctor said nothing.

"Ah, Miss Clara, I must insist that I take your hat and cloak if you are to stay indoors," Strax said with his arm outstretched.

"It's hair, Strax. And these are my clothes!" she slapped his three-fingered hand away that had begun pulling at her cardigan sleeve. She wriggled her arm back into it.

"Are you sure?" Strax checked.

"Yes!"

"How about some tea then? Or a glass of water?" he offered.

"Are you going to make me drink it from a bucket again?" Clara questioned, Strax didn't seem to understand the problem.

"I'll fetch some tea then."

Clara took a seat at the round dining table nestled between a forest of wild plants and eyed the Doctor. He was talking to Jenny about the events of the past week.

"An' then she came 'ome. She said she 'adn't felt like eatin' 'im, which was unusual, so she chewed 'is arms an' legs off an' threw 'im in the river. She went straight up to bed without supper an' she 'asn't moved since".

"And this was six days ago?" asked the Doctor.

"Yeah. Doctor, you don't fink she's dying do ya? I mean, 'ow long do Silurians live? She told me she was millions of years old, but she 'ibernated through most of that-"

A repulsive shriek filled the house causing all of them to jump simultaneously, including the brave warrior that is Strax; who sent a pot of tea shattering across the floor.

"Vastra!" Jenny cried out; she reached the staircase first, followed closely by the Doctor. They launched themselves into Vastra's room and came to a skidding halt. Jenny gasped, seconds later Clara ran into the room and did the exact same.

"What _is_ that?" Jenny asked fearfully.

The Doctor had stepped forward, arm outstretched, and ran his fingers delicately over the flaky, white sheath that was hovering at Vastra's throat. The Silurian still lay perfectly still, as though the screams couldn't possibly have come from her.

"Of course," said the Doctor coming to some kind of realisation that hadn't been obvious to Clara or Jenny. "It's ecdysis."

"It's what?" Clara asked.

"Ecdysis; she's shedding."

"Shedding?" repeated Jenny.

"Adult Silurians don't do it very often, they usually do it as children when they grow, and they become too big for their skin. But I suppose every once in a while-"

"Why wouldn't she tell me about it?" Jenny asked, walking over to her lover and stroking her again.

"Maybe she didn't know. Vastra probably hasn't grown since she was in her first million years; maybe she can't remember."

Jenny let out a frustrated grunt and tugged at the skin wrapped around Vastra's throat.

"Is it 'urting 'er? Can she breathe?" Jenny asked when the tough skin failed to pull away.

"She seems fine," said the Doctor, "It usually comes off in sections. Look at her hands, see?"

He was right. Vastra's hands were shedding too. The heavy skin hung from her fingers. Jenny seemed put out by its presence, as though it has no right to be clinging to her wife in such a way.

"Well, 'ow long will she be like this?" Jenny asked.

"Could be a few days."

"Are you sure?"

"Sure, not sure. Could be days, weeks, months."

"Months?!" Jenny seemed to choke on the word as it spluttered from her mouth. "But she can't be."

Of course the Doctor had been right, it had taken the better part of two months before Vastra stopped shedding, but then she still lay in a deep sleep.

Every two days for two months the TARDIS materialised in the drawing room and the Doctor and Clara would go up to Madame Vastra's chambers. And every time the Doctor would examine Madame Vastra and Clara would persuade Jenny to leave her side to get some food and rest.

Strax busied himself around the house and spoke very little to anyone. There was a definite air of sadness looming about the big, empty rooms. Even the exotic plants that made the rooms so bright seemed dull without Vastra's presence.

Clara held tightly to Jenny's hand and led her downstairs to the kitchen. Strax had left a stew cooking on the stove and disappeared into one of the other rooms.

"It'll be alright, Jenny," Clara told her friend. She pushed a very large bowl of stew towards her. Jenny had become very pale and seemed smaller in her maid's clothes. Clara suspected that the Victorian woman was only eating when instructed to; once every two days.

"You said that the last time," Jenny said, swirling the food around in the bowl.

"It will be, it will just take time."

Jenny let the spoon slip from her fingers and it tinkled on the porcelain bowl. The gravy splattered up her front and she flopped forwards onto the table.

"Jenny?"

Quite sobs came from the maid as she buried her head in her arms. Clara stepped around the table and pulled her stubborn friend towards her; she eventually gave in and let herself be hugged. Her small form seemed to tremble in Clara's embrace.

"So sorry, ma'am, I just miss 'er so much. She's the only person in my life to 'ave ever wanted me."

"It's okay," Clara soothed, she planted a kiss in Jenny's hair, "It's okay."

Jenny had fallen asleep without taking so much as a spoonful of her stew. She lay across the couch in the drawing room with her head rested in Clara's lap. Clara was stroking her hair gently and Jenny seemed almost peaceful.

The Doctor appeared in the drawing room holding a doormat-sized piece of Vastra's shed skin.

"That's got the last of it," he whispered, acknowledging Jenny's slumberous state. "She should come around now. Hopefully."

"Jenny's not coping very well, she hasn't eaten. I think we should stay here for tonight." Clara said. The Doctor nodded.

"It doesn't look like you'll be moving anytime soon," he pointed out. Clara didn't mind, as long as it meant Jenny got some rest. She smiled down at the woman she could now call her friend and continued stroking her hair.

"It's amazing, don't you think- How truly in love they are, despite their differences?" Clara whispered.

"Lucky," the Doctor said, "Very lucky." He peered upward at Clara and smiled. She held out a hand to him and he squeezed it reassuringly. "Have you never been in love?"

"I'm not sure," Clara said, "Have you?"

The Doctor stayed silent and avoided her gaze. A part of him wished he'd never asked.

"Sorry," whispered Clara, she squeezed the hand that was still wrapped around her own small fingers, "Two-thousand years of time and space, of course you have." This time it was she who looked away; she felt embarrassed for being so foolish.

"I should go and check on Vastra, I'll call you if there's any change."

The Doctor released his gripped on Clara's hand and left the room without another word.

"Clara! Clara!" Clara jumped out of her sleep to the sound of the Doctor voice. Her neck ached from sleeping sitting up. Before she could get a good glance around the room Jenny was already on her feet and headed for the hallway. Clara too leapt up and followed the maid upstairs.

Vastra was still quite still but stirring in her sleep, murmuring incoherent phrases.

"Madame?" Jenny spoke quietly with a tone of minute fear in her voice.

"Jenny," Vastra breathed, long and slow. Jenny's face lit up instantly and her eyes filled and overflowed with tears.

Vastra started to move, only very slightly. Each movement was like a robot, slow and stiff from her two-month slumber. Jenny sat beside her on the bed, squeezing her hand, praying aloud for her wife to awaken.

"Please, oh, please, please," she whispered.

Vastra's movements seemed to loosen, she cricked her neck from side to side and her eyes flew open. She looked around utterly dazed and confused and when Jenny, in her heartfelt wonderment, failed to find any words to say, Clara spoke up.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

The green lizard smacked her lips. Clara poured her a glass of water from the jug on the bedside table and offered it to Vastra who took it in one swift manoeuvre.

"Thoroughly refreshed," said Vastra with a toothy smile.

The words that tumbled from Vastra's mouth seemed to pull Jenny into a state of believing. The silent tears that had rolled down her cheeks turned into audible sobs as she threw her arms around Vastra's shoulders and pulled her into a tight embrace.

Clara looked at the Doctor who shifted on the spot. She tilted her head signalling that they should give the couple some space and the two shuffled from the room.

"Now, now, Jenny, what's all this?" Vastra said softly.

"I'm sorry, Madame, it's just- I thought you weren't coming back."

Vastra cradled Jenny's wet face in her scaly hands and smiled.

"It was rather an unexpected turn," said Vastra, "How strange."

Jenny sniffed.

"I'll always come back for you, my love, don't ever fear that I won't."

"I love you," Jenny said.

"My dear-" Vastra pulled her lover into a deep kiss, holding her shivering form with strong arms. "-I'll love you until the end of time."

The TARDIS was parked up for the night, safe and sound in the drawing room. Vastra and Jenny had taken a moonlight stroll and Strax seemed to be in higher spirits.

The Doctor returned to the control room where Clara was sitting almost dropping off to sleep.

"You should go to bed, we're not going anywhere tonight."

Clara nodded and got to her feet, she picked up her shoes and bid the Doctor good night. She was nearing the corridor and about to step out of site when he called her name.

"Mmmm," she replied sleepily, turning on the spot.

"I _have_ been in love," he began, "Back on Gallifrey, a long time ago."

Clara smiled sympathetically.

"And since, there have been people who I've travelled with, but I don't know if that was love-" he paused. "How could I ask a human to give up their one and only life to be with me?"

His eyes were filled with sorrow and Clara had to swallow hard to dislodge the lump in her throat.

She walked over to where he stood feeling utterly ashamed of himself. To his shock she put her hand to his cheek and looked deep into his eyes. She stroked the soft skin beneath her thumb and smiled at him. The lines on his face didn't bother her anymore, or the angry eyebrows; he was just the Doctor.

She pulled him into a hug and as always he stiffened in her arms.

"I'm not a hugging person," he said on cue.

"You are when they're my hugs," Clara said, she felt his head nod and his body relax. He hugged her back. Clara smiled.

She pulled away and examined him once more before she left to go to bed.

"I bet so many women are just wishing you _had_ asked," she said.


End file.
